An Evening at Luce with Olivia Oguma

Hi! My name is Olivia Oguma and I'm lucky enough to play Stephanie Lin in the awesome new play LUCE by JC Lee at LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater. Stephanie (without giving too much away) doesn't appear until about 45-50min into the show. So I have a lot of downtime to prepare, put on sparkly nail polish (for real) and hang out with my fellow cast members! Here's what my evening at LUCE looks like...

5:30pm – I start getting ready to leave for “half hour.” I usually eat a light dinner/snack pre-show (and a bigger meal post-show).

I’m currently using three different shades of purple, that all have amazing shade-names that oddly remind me of Stephanie (Opi Liquid Sand in Can’t Let Go, Sephora by Opi in I Don’t Bite and Elf in Purple Madness).

7:00pm – The show starts. I get into half of my costume (upper half: Stephanie, lower half: Olivia)— no need to be sitting wrinkling my full costume just yet. Time to wander around the theater in my frog slippers, and check on House Seat Request confirmations, and (back during previews) go over whatever notes our director May has given me from last night’s preview performance.

7:05pm- This is actually the only time I have to visit with my show buddy Oak, AKA “Shower Singer Extraordinaire.” Usually we discuss such important topics such as how we are possibly related due to our similar last names, our mutual love for HBO’s NEWSROOM…

7:45pm – Once I have my my fake iPhone prop and my backpack, I’m ready to go backstage and wait to do my scene. My backpack was actually also used in LCT3’s production of SLOWGIRL— it has different pins on it now to make it Stephanie-eque.

7:46pm-8:00pm – Well, I’m onstage doing my scene now! … So I don’t have any candid shots as I’ve left my camera in my dressing room. But come see the show and you’ll see exactly what’s happening when I’m onstage! Intrigued much?

8:05pm – After my scene, I go back to the dressing room by way of the crossover in the Claire Tow Theater lobby/bar. Here I get to say hello to the house staff, including the awesome people who run the LCT3 lobby bar (which has great pre- AND post-show drinks and mini sandwiches).

8:40pm – By this time, the show is done and it’s time to get dressed and go say hello to my friends who have come to see the show who are waiting for me in the LCT3 lobby! Tonight the cast of my last show (EMOTIONAL CREATURE) came to see the show with EMOTIONAL CREATURE director Jo Bonney.